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University reps say 2014 was better session for higher ed

Some cuts passed in 2013 restored; capital projects at Washburn, KU and K-State also moving forward

Representatives of three area universities said the 2014 session was a marked improvement over 2013, but voters still should keep higher education in mind when they go to the polls in August and November.

Last year the state's public universities expressed disappointment at budget cuts passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback. Several university officials joined Brownback in his call to extend a temporary sales tax in the hopes the cuts would be restored in the 2014 session.

Some restoration was made. The universities had a portion of a salary freeze that applied to all state agencies replaced and will be under no such cap in the coming fiscal year. But 1.5 percent operating budget cuts for FY 2014 and 2015 remain. At the same time, bonding authority for long-sought capital improvements, including a new health education building at The University of Kansas Medical Center, was approved.

University of Kansas spokesman Tim Caboni called the session a "mixed bag." He said the university was "certainly appreciative" for $25 million in bonding authority that he said provided much-needed momentum for the $75 million health education building expected to pump up the number of doctors KU Med produces each year.

“We’re really well-positioned to seek philanthropic support and get this done," Caboni said. "And that is terrific news for the people of Kansas, especially the people who have a desperate need for primary care physicians in their communities.”

But 42 other states increased funding for higher education last year to fill post-recession holes, and Caboni said it was disappointing that Kansas was still digging out of a hole made deeper last year.

"Certainly there were some disappointments that for all of higher education were were unable to get a restoration of the 1.5 percent cuts,” Caboni said.

Caboni said the salary cap restorations will be significant at the medical center, with about $4 million flowing back. On the Lawrence campus, it amounts to only about $163,000.

It will mean more for Kansas State University, especially the school's Research and Extension programs.

The salary freezes hit that department hard, university spokeswoman Sue Peterson said, because it was in a transitional phase.

“It’s a very salary intensive department," Peterson said. "A lot of people delivering a lot of programs, and the cap was particularly difficult because they had a new dean just come in and a lot of unfilled positions because they were waiting on that new dean to set his priorities.”

Peterson said Kansas State also got $1.5 million for renovations to its architecture school that was its "highest priority for enhancement” in terms of capital projects. The state's portion of funding for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility has also been promised and the project now waits only on federal funding. Peterson said the university hopes construction on that multi-billion-dollar research facility will start "some time in calendar year 2015."

Washburn University is about to break ground on a new government-partnership facility of its own, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

Washburn President Jerry Farley said initial legislative skepticism about the project was quelled with help from Rep. Mark Hutton, R-Wichita, whose experience in the construction industry lent him credibility with colleagues.

The crime lab is meant to help dent a forensic analysis backlog.

"That's a great project," Farley said. "It's something that will benefit a lot of people in the state when you have a better response to solving criminal activity."

As the state's only municipal university, Washburn relies far less on state funding than KU and K-State. Farley said the budget restorations mean about $300,000 to the school and the Legislature added another $170,000 to the "Municipal University Operating Grant" in a controversial school funding bill passed last month.

"I think for Washburn it was a good year in difficult times," Farley said.

But he added that voters should keep higher education in mind in the upcoming elections, a sentiment echoed by Caboni and Peterson.

Caboni said state support is crucial to maintaining high-class public universities.

“I think regardless of political party it’s important to remember that education is a Kansas value," Caboni said. "For us to be successful as a state and to have a growing economy and to attract industries here, we need to have a robust higher education system.”